Bonilla’s famed contract fetches $180K at auction

Bobby Bonilla’s infamous contract with the New York Mets is still being paid out — in more ways than one.

The addendum to Bonilla’s contract, the deferred compensation agreement, has sold via collectibles marketplace Goldin for $180,000, including buyer’s premium. The auction closed late Saturday night.

Bonilla, of course, is owed $1,193,248.20 from the Mets every July 1 — known throughout the sports world as “Bobby Bonilla Day” — through 2035 as part of the most infamous deferred payment contract in American professional sports history.

Bonilla will be 72 when the payments are complete.

The auction winner also receives 30-minute Zoom calls with Bonilla and, separately, Dennis Gilbert, the agent who brokered Bonilla’s deferment deal. He also gets a signed baseball, a game-used bat from Bonilla’s personal collection and a 1-of-1 Bobby Bonilla contract NFT.

On top of all that, the winner will spend a day with Bonilla in New York, including breakfast, a trip to Citi Field for a batting practice viewing and Mets game and dinner. The day will take place in 2023.

At 9:30 p.m. ET Saturday, the lot for the Bonilla contract was at $22,800. Fifty minutes and 15 bids later, the Bonilla-ganza reached six figures.

The contract has been in Gilbert’s possession since signing. The lot includes a letter of provenance from Gilbert and a letter of authenticity from Beckett Authentication.

Source: www.espn.com